Climate Science Glossary

Term Lookup

Settings

Use the controls in the far right panel to increase or decrease the number of terms automatically displayed (or to completely turn that feature off).

Term Lookup

Term:

Settings

Beginner Intermediate Advanced No DefinitionsDefinition Life:

All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.

A carbon tax that America could live with

Among economists, the issue is largely a no-brainer. In December 2011, the IGM Forum asked a panel of 41 prominent economists about this statement: “A tax on the carbon content of fuels would be a less expensive way to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions than would a collection of policies such as ‘corporate average fuel economy’ requirements for automobiles.” Ninety percent of the panelists agreed.

Could such an overwhelming consensus of economists be wrong? Well, actually, yes. But in this case, I am confident that the economics profession has it right. The hard part is persuading the public and the politicians.

America's future up in flames

Little by little climate change - the elephant in the room - is seeping into the daily news cycle. For Americans it began to resonate with last year's epic drought, an echo of the Dustbowl era and still ongoing, followed by Superstorm Sandy that slammed into New York, helping propel Barack Obama, whose Administration has been woefully inadequate in tackling climate change, back into the White House.

This week it is the Rim Fire, a monster conflagration relentlessly advancing through dense oak and conifer forests into Yosemite National Park, the iconic American natural treasure.

Climate change: warm words and cool waters

Last week's report that the current "pause" in global warming could be linked to cyclic cooling in the Pacific will be interpreted by climate sceptics as evidence that global warming isn't happening, and by politicians as a reason to forget about climate change and carry on with business as usual. Both responses would be dangerously wrong.

Drones poised to be new climate surveillance workhorses

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), better known as drones, are best known for their use in military settings. But scientists and researchers are quickly discovering their value in environmental and conservation projects, from tracking the effects of climate change to monitoring conservation projects.

Hope and fellowship

With no obvious path to victory (where victory = minimizing suffering and maximizing flourishing in the face of climate change), the question is how to proceed. How do we maintain our equilibrium, our happiness and fighting spirit, with disappointments so common, victories so rare, and unthinkable loss looming?

Silver lining in China’s smog

Jiang Kejun may be one of the few Beijing residents who see a ray of hope in the smog engulfing the city. A researcher in a state energy institute, he is an outspoken advocate of swiftly cutting China’s greenhouse gas output, and he says public anger about noxious air has jolted the government, which long dismissed pollution as the necessary price of prosperity.

The grimy haze blanketing Beijing and other Chinese cities comes from motor vehicles, factories, power plants and furnaces that also emit carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas from human activities. The widespread ire about air pollution has forced China’s new leadership to vow firmer, faster measures for cleaner air that are likely to reduce carbon dioxide output, especially from coal, experts said. “The public concern about the air pollution has helped raise awareness about broader environmental problems,” said Mr. Jiang, a researcher at the Energy Research Institute, which advises the Chinese government. “This will be a big help in pushing China.”

The oceans are acidifying at the fastest rate in 300 million years

The world’s oceans are turning acidic at what’s likely the fastest pace in 300 million years. Scientists tend to think this is a troubling development. But just how worried should we be, exactly?

It’s a question marine experts have been racing to get a handle on in recent years. Here’s what they do know: As humans keep burning fossil fuels, the oceans are absorbing more and more carbon-dioxide. That staves off (some) global warming, but it also makes the seas more acidic — acidity levels have risen 30 percent since the Industrial Revolution.

Comments

Convincing the American people to go with a carbon tax (first article) would be painfully easy. Convincing the antidiluvian senate and congress would be another thing all together. Simply put in the second half of Hansen's solution and give the dividend. The side benefits (besides reducing carbon emissions) would be great. So many American families are on the bones of their backsides. They would immedeately put every cent they received back into the economy just to put food on the table. Taxes to the government at all levels. What is so hard to undersand about this.

Regarding "A carbon tax that America could live with", it is worh pointing to Kevin Anderson's recent post Why Carbon Prices Can't Deliver the 2º Target. I would like to see some more discussion of Anderson's thinking in SkS or is it already here somewhere?